The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1887-03-20
THE PILGRIMAGE TO MECCA.
The Fascination Which This Penance Has for
the Devout Mohaminedans.

The Arabic word hage is used to express as
piration. and among Moslems the noble title OF
hadji, or pilgrim, is not to be bought with GOLD
precious stones or comprised by intrigue
Nor is that noblest name for anv snan to be won
on the field Of battle. The rank must be earned
by devotions on the sacred spots where the
Prophet (exalted be ais namely stood SO long in
prayer that his face began to shine He has de-
cared that the one who patiently endures the
heat of Mecca and the cold of Medina merits re-
ward in the highest heaven.
Going on pilgrimage is concession to feeling
which lies deep among the many mysteries OF
the human heart. The N ost thoughtless and
worldly, who holds in keeping a sentiment OF
loyalty for any object beloved or sanctifed, can
understand the strange. gloomy fascination
which this act of penauce has for the Mohamme-
dams We call it excess of devotion, fanaticsm.
Rather let it be written they are believers who
live their religion. ready to die in its defense,
and holding him deserving of death who for
sakes it.
India is chief among the nations who practice
pilgrimage. In that seat of awful images,
swarmine with human life. come devotees from
dim and unknown regions seeking far countries
for holy shrines. Still are Hindoos wanderers
toward Egypt, to the flaming steppes of Thibet
and the Snowy peaks OF the Caucasus My read
ers will remember how the Athenian philoso-
piers visited Alexandria, and the Jews annually
flocked to Jerusalem till the city lived on the
vast numbers of pilgrims Old Olivet was then
crowded with tents, and booths were erected on
housetops to lodge the overflow of visitors. They
marched with hymns and with banners. and en-
tered the gates to the joyful sound OF flutes and
the psalm: II was glad when they said to me,
let US go into the house of the Lord Our feet
shall stand within thy gates. 0 Jerusalem"
Tartars, Mongols. Buddhists, have their holy
places or Lamaserais. and for eighteen centuries
what thousands Of Christians have made high
sacrifice to enjoy view Of Mount Zion. and
to kneel at the stone which, tradition says, COW
the rock-hewn sepulchre wherein no man
lay till Christ
AS the captive Daniel prayed with window
open toward the Holy City, the Mosem kneels
with face toward the sacred city of his atora-
ton.
In the heart Of the dessert Mecca lies spotiess
as bride, yelled pure virgin. undefled by
glance of Giaour, unpolluted by touch Of unoe-
lieving Jew.
With revereatial awe the Hadji ponders the
one hundred thousand mercies which daily de-
scend on the Kaaba. There is not a doubt to
darken his faith. He knows neither variable
ness nor shadow of turning. His fixedness of
purpose, answering and unchanging, is nearest
the eternal sameness Of the one God of his wor-
ship.
Sneers and SCOTS Of aliens to the true faith
pass him by as the id1est breeze which hutters
the fringes of his kufyeh. Well may our mis-
sionares write, Christianity makes no more i'm
preston on Islamism than the winds of the des-
ert make on Mount Sinai The immovabe fat
alist has concern for the creeds of other peo
ples. In 1882 the Sultan of Turkey said to
party of Americans, with the high behest OF one
who is botn Pope and Emperor: II do not fear
your Bible any more than you fear the Koran"
hat fn tha milk m Yc hA
| phemer? Is it not written by the servant of Him
| who spread the earth with carpets of flowers and
| drew shady trees from dead ground that they
| who die or pilgrimage are taken up by swift
| winged camels to the golden pleasure fields kept
| for the faithful There they shall rest on green
| pillows beside the happy river and bask in the
| light which shines from the great white throne.
Fifty thousand years before the creation the
| one God determined and registered every event,
| past present and to come. in the book of des
| tiny. Among the many wonders on its leaves it
| was written Mohammed should be the first and
| most august of prophets. in the day of judg-
ment the elect will fearlessly range under the
green banner of him who surely was not play
| ing the hypocrite when, in dying hours. he
calmly spoke Of paradise assured and his fellow
| citizens on high.
The tribes of the wandering foot and weary
breast do not strive to renj the veil which AL
lab. the ALI wise, has hung over the face of the
unknown. They patiently bide their hour,
| knowing that in the good time decreed the sum-
| mons will find them waiting in sure hope and
perfect trust The tradition runs that the
Mecca a holy place before Sirius was
created, therefore should the miehtiest
yield it homage. Om-te- Kora mother of
cites) was known to ProIemy as Maco-
rahia. and its grand mosque, capable of
holding IS, 600 persons, is on the site of heath
en- temple. which in the times of ignorance be-
fore the coming of Mohammed. contained 365
idols. one for each day of the year. The proph-
: we call False, by Europe named the Impostor,
overthrow the stones of the desert. kewn into
gods, and shattered them to atoms, only saying:
There is no God but God"-a creed which may
be written on the finger nail, since that day the
confession of faith and battle-cry of nine thou
sand millions of worshipng souls. To this
| everlasting truth he added later: And Moham
med is His prophet"
| The sacred city has passed through many
| changes and at present is directly dependent on
| the Sultan 1t is strangely destitute of trees
and verdure of every sort. The falling off in
pilgrimage has reduced it from 100, 600 to 40 00(
| inhabitants.
Beside the mosque there is no building of any
| importance. The narrow valley. circled by
bald, bleak hills and arid plains haunts of thirs
and starvation, is great center in the minds Of
| one third of the human race revered as the holy
Of hclies by forty generations. They say, who
love it, Mecca is the capital of the world, the
center of the universe. and he who fails to reach
it once in holy pilgrimage, might as well die
Jew or Christian.
1t was a shrine for pilgrimage long before tn,
advent of Mohammed. After fruitless attempts
| to Abolish the rite, which possibly had Its starr
in the rowing propensity of the nomads, he wa.
compelled to yield 20 memorial custom and con
firm it, taking care to annul its idolatry, for thu
father Of the faithful was conoclast and
hater of idols. One of the latest acts of his life
was to lead 40, 900 pilgrims to the shrnes Of Nee
ca It is said the priests VIII
minister there number many thousands
The ceremonies prescribed for to-day ar
probably mixed with formulas come down from
the ancient Sabean worship, and are too many
to be recorded here. The most important ar
seven times comprising the Kaaba, House o
Allah, seven times treading the stone. worl
smooth as glass by reverent feet of the faithful
According to the legends the earliest worshipe
here was the first man. After his banishmen
from Eden thither he came. repentant, over
whelmed by the burden of sin, sorrowing mos